Mega Man Quint II: Past vs Future
by RandyPandy
Summary: With Quint's discovery of the truth, he now plans to make sure that Mega Man defeats the Robot Masters of Wily and survive to make it to him. The future of both robots may be depending on it... MMC, Book 2 of 7
1. Prologue

**Mega Man Quint II: Past vs. Future**

by RandyPandy

If you haven't read Mega Man Quint (formerly known as Timescape Saga, Book 1), then I suggest you do so before reading this fic. If you don't, this fic will not make any sense whatsoever. This fic is also based on the game Mega Man II for the Gameboy, and my own ideas.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters seen or mentioned (except Mr. Yakanochi). I don't own the Time Skimmer or Chronos Institute either.

* * *

"..." Quint watched the TV screens inside the fortress as Wily announced his threat to the world. "Now we wait. Good luck, Mega Man."

"Saku..." murmured Sakugarne. "Saku..."

Then the two robots headed back to the Lab 6 hallway. It didn't take long to get there, though it felt like ages for them. Quint sat down next to the entrance to Lab 6B, and hoped with all his metal heart that Mega Man would make it up there to him. If not... then the world was doomed.

* * *

"If it's a fight you want, Wily..." Mega Man said softly, gazing at the TV screen from where he sat inside his home. "Then it's a fight you will get."

Roll, who was sitting next to him, looked at him, worried. "Be careful Mega Man. I think he means business this time."

"And he has the Time Skimmer," Dr. Light added. "We don't know what he did with that. But you have got to recover it. We can't leave something like that in Dr. Wily's hands. And poor Mr. Yakanochi of Chronos Institute is beating himself up for unintentionally allowing Dr. Wily to steal it."

"That man's a bundle of nerves," Roll commented.

"Don't worry, Doctor," Mega Man said. He ran into the back room, pulled out his armor, and changed into it. He walked back out towards Dr. Light. "I'm ready. What is he using this time?" he asked.

"This time, it's... Metal Man, Wood Man, Air Man, and Crash Man," Dr. Light observed on his screen.

"Wait... there's only four of them?" asked Roll, confused. That didn't make sense...

"Well, he could have placed four more as guards for his fortress... wherever it is. Like he did that one time. However, something seems odd... I've beaten all these guys before," Mega Man commented. "In the Second Rebellion. It's almost as if... he _wants_ me to make it to his fortress." He frowned. "But why would he want to do that?"

"Well, it's not that unusual," Roll spoke up. "Remember the last time he sicced four Robot Masters on you? They were all from the First Rebellion, and not very hard to defeat. When you made it to his fortress, he used four robots from the Second Rebellion. The funny thing is, these four Second Rebellion Robot Masters are not the same ones that he used before. But honestly! This is Wily we're talking about! He's insane, remember?"

"Still, it does seem odd," agreed Dr. Light. "If he went into the future, we would expect him to get a powerful weapon, not recycle old robots," he said. Not one person in the room was able to catch the irony in his words due to their lack of knowledge of what had transpired during Wily's excursion to the future.

Mega Man shrugged. "Well I have to start somewhere. I guess I should go for Metal Man. That's what I did last time, and the Metal Blades are a good weapon against the other guys."

"Oh, and if you see that brother of ours," Roll added. "Be sure to ask him why he always disappears in the dead of the night before cleaning up after himself. He should be able to pick up after himself at his age, not make his sister do it!" Dr. Light laughed while Mega Man rolled his eyes.

"Of course I will," Mega Man added sarcastically. "If he sticks around long enough for me to ask him." Mega Man teleported out.

* * *

Whew! Prologue of Book 2 written! It might take awhile to get the next chapter up, but I guarantee that this project will continue to the end. 


	2. Mega Man's Shadow

Here's chapter 1! I'm going to be squeezing two Robot Masters per chapter. I'm not like some of those authors that can do a super long chapter for one robot master, so sorry! And I suck at battle scenes too... sigh...

* * *

"..." Quint frowned, glancing at the objects in his hands. Sakugarne was standing there, waiting for him to make his move. Quint thought and thought; he was in a rather sticky situation. How was he going to do it? He had very few options. Finally, he made his move. 

"Got any twos?" he asked Sakugarne, dreading the answer.

"Sakugarne!" Sakugarne called back cheerfully. Quint groaned and picked up a card. Sakugarne, meanwhile, glanced down at the objects he was using a hoverplatform to hold. "Saku?" he asked Quint.

"No. Go Fish," Quint replied. A card drew itself from the deck thanks and added itself to Sakugarne's cards on the hoverplatform.

For awhile, the two played with the cards. It was certainly the strangest deck that Quint had ever seen. All of the cards, except for the King, were a different Robot Master that Wily had created. The King was Dr. Wily itself. Quint wondered where Wily had gotten the deck from. Then he sighed and placed his cards on the rest of the deck.

"Just look at me! My future depends on the appearance of someone who might not even make it, and I'm sitting around here playing 'Go Fish!'" he sighed.

Sakugarne put away its cards. "Saku?" he asked.

Quint blinked at him. "Maybe. It's better than sitting up here useless. But Wily can't find out, right?"

"Saku!" the pogo-stick said.

"All right. It should be in another room nearby..." The two slowly slipped out of the room and traveled down the hallway. It wouldn't look unusual, as Quint was supposed to be guarding the hallway, after all. Still, he wanted to be careful. The slightest hint of suspicion and his plans would be foiled.

"Ah!" he grinned as he opened a door leading to Laboratory 6H and took in the large amounts of equipment. "We found it!"

"Saku!" beamed Sakugarne.

Quint walked in, making sure to shut the door once his friend was in. He headed towards a computer near the back of the room and turned its viewfinder on. "Where are you, Mega Man...?" he muttered to himself as he scanned the Earth for the little blue robot's energy signature.

He found it; the blue robot was in Metal Man's domain, right outside the door. It was locked, and he had no way to open it. Wily probably wanted to keep Mega Man occupied as long as he could, probably out of the coldness of his heart. Quint activated the speakers to Metal Man's domain. "Mind if I lend a hand?" the green robot asked, pushing a lever to open the gate.

* * *

"Open!" Mega Man snapped at the gate. The stubborn metal door was refusing to open. Mega Man had touched it, like he normally did, but when that had yielded no results, he had punched it, kicked it, shot it, even yelled at it. Nothing had worked. 

"Nuts! How am I going to beat the Robot Masters if I can't even reach them?" he said.

"Mind if I lend a hand?" a voice came over the intercom. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Mega Man couldn't quite put a name to it. Suddenly, the gate came to life and clicked open. Startled, Mega Man stared at it. When the gate didn't close, he traversed inside. The gate closed shut behind him.

Bewildered, he continued traveling until he came upon a second gate. Unlike the other one, this gate readily opened and Mega Man found himself facing a Robot Master – Metal Man.

"Ah, Mega Man," the other robot said. "Nice to see you again. Ready to get chopped up?"

"Nah," replied Mega Man. "I'll cook you instead!" Mega Man fired a plasma shot. Metal Man dodged, and fired a few of his Metal Blades at Mega Man. The blue robot yelped and twisted his body, barely avoiding the gears. Before Metal Man landed on the ground, Mega Man had fired a charge shot – which struck Metal Man.

The red robot gave a modest cough. "Not bad. But it'll take more than that to beat me!" He continued throwing his Metal Blades at Mega Man. However, Mega Man dodged every single one of them and fired back until Metal Man was destroyed. He sighed and picked up the weapon the red Robot Master had left behind.

"Oy..." he sighed. "Easy as ever." He fired a few Metal Blades idly. "At least his weapon hasn't changed much."

"That's because Wily was too lazy to edit their design," the same voice from before commented. "He's cracked."

Mega Man looked around the room and didn't see anybody. "Who are you?" he asked.

"..." The voice was silent for so long that Mega Man thought that it had left. Finally, it spoke up. "I guess you can call me your shadow." There was an amused tone to the voice. Mega Man rolled his eyes, not understanding the implication.

"Is that you, Proto Man?" he asked wryly. "Because if it is, it's not funny."

The voice chuckled. "No, I'm not your older brother," it said. "In fact, I don't think I've seen Proto Man for awhile. I'm just someone who is interested in seeing you make it through this crazy plot of Wily's alive. We might meet sometime. Not now though. Bye!"

"Wait!" Mega Man called, but the voice, whom he had dubbed 'Shadow' during the conversation, didn't answer. "Darn, he must have left." Sighing, he teleported back to Dr. Light's laboratory.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," Quint commented once he'd noticed that Mega Man had left Metal Man's domain. There was a huge grin on his face. "Sorry, Sakugarne," he added, noticing the pogo-stick staring at him with a confused expression on its face. "I had to play with his mind a little. I mean, if I get killed, I at least wanted to have a little fun with him!" 

Sakugarne rolled its eyes. His master was acting a lot more cheerful then he had been a few moments ago. The pogo-stick wondered whether his master's original personality had been shining through.

"Anyways, I pretty much have nothing to do until Mega Man decides to go robot-hunting again," Quint continued. "So I guess we'll just have to sit here and wait for him, neh?" As he said that, he heard the computer beeping again. "...Already?" Glancing down at the screen, he noticed that Mega Man had decided to enter Wood Man's domain. "How about we give him a little assistance...?"

* * *

Mega Man traveled through Wood Man's domain without incident. Then, once again, he came across a gate. Wondering whether it was the same type of gate as Metal Man's, he tapped it. Nothing happened. "So when's Shadow going to show up?" 

"Right now!" the voice called back cheerfully. Mega Man blinked calmly. "And yeah, I'm back to help you out. So say what you wanna say before I open this gate!"

Mega Man rolled his eyes. "You're gonna give me advice?"

"Yep! Wood Man hasn't really changed much. Shame – he's probably the hardest out of the three remaining. But even now he isn't that hard, so you'll be fine! Not much I can do right now. Maybe in awhile or so."

"Thanks," muttered Mega Man.

"Glad to help!" 'Shadow' said cheerfully as the gate opened and Mega Man stepped through. After stepping through the other gate, the blue robot was immediately confronted by Wood Man.

Wood Man was as his name suggested – completely made out of wood. The moment he saw Mega Man, he gave a roar, pounded his chests like a gorilla, and charged. So Mega Man sliced him open with the Metal Blade as quickly as he could, not even giving the Robot Master time to get a Leaf Shield up.

When Mega Man was through, he picked up the Leaf Shield weapon and waited. 'Shadow' spoke up again.

"Got it? Nice! Want to know who you should go after next?" 'Shadow' asked him.

"Sure, I'd like that," the blue robot replied. He was beginning to like this mysterious helper, despite the happy-go-lucky attitude it had.

"Right! Here it is..."

* * *

And that's where I'll stop. ...Don't ask me why Sakugarne and Quint were playing Go Fish. I had no idea why, it just seemed like a bit of comic relief to me. So how's the second book so far? Tell me what you think! 


	3. Clues?

Chapter 2 is up! Enjoy! Oh, and two characters makes their appearance. They won't appear in later books, but I needed them to move the plot along right now. It's getting harder and harder to get these out every week, due to school and it being my junior year and all (which means PSAT and SAT). Bleagh. I might slow down a bit until school it out. Sorry.

**Rising Dragon**: I'm sorry if I'm going too fast! Trust me, I am trying to slow down. But there's not much that I can do. I really want to get this book done so that I can write the next one, which will have practically no canon relation at all...

* * *

A soft 'chink' sound announced Mega Man's return to the lab. Roll immediately spun around from where she had been sitting and walked over to her brother. "Mega Man!" she said. "That's the first time you took on two Robot Masters without returning to the lab!" 

"I know," replied Mega Man, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry. But I was doing alright, and I felt that I didn't need to return."

"So, you took on Metal Man," Roll said. "Who did you take on after him?"

"Wood Man," said Mega Man. "Apparently, Wily didn't even try to make him harder. In fact, he was easier this time around!"

Dr. Light chose that moment to walk into the room. He smiled at his robotic 'son'. "Good to see you're safe, Mega Man!"

Mega Man smiled back, and then the smile left and was replaced with a curious expression as he remembered something. "There's something that I want to ask you, Dr. Light," he started. "But it sounds a little strange, and, well..."

"Shoot."

"Have you built any other robots that Roll and I don't know about? I mean, we didn't know Proto Man existed until some time ago, and you built him before us! Are there any others?" he asked.

Dr. Light stared at him. "What brought this on?"

"When I went the Metal Man's place, the gate refused to open," started Mega Man. "Then someone's voice came and he opened the gate for me. I asked him whether he was Proto Man. He said no, and then told me that he was my shadow."

"It could just be Proto Man and his wacky sense of humor to get you confused," Roll said. Mega Man shook his head.

"I doubt it. His voice sounded familiar, but I know that it wasn't Proto Man's. It sounded nothing like his voice. But I guess I'll figure it out someday."

At that moment, the view screen sitting in the lab flickered on. On the screen was the image of a young, brown-haired man with glasses.

"Ah, Dr. Cossack!" Dr. Light said, smiling. "Perfect timing!"

Dr. Mikhail Sergeyovitch Cossack was a fellow scientist that the Light family had recently become friends with. Dr. Wily had kidnapped his daughter Kalinka and had blackmailed the Russian scientist into attempting to take over the world. If Dr. Cossack could kill Mega Man, Wily had said, then he would release his daughter. Fearing for his daughter's life, Dr. Cossack had agreed.

However, Proto Man had rescued Kalinka from his fortress and had appeared with the girl right when Mega Man and Dr. Cossack were about to deliver the final blow to each other. Realizing that Kalinka was safe, Dr. Cossack had refused to kill Mega Man and had surrendered to the authorities. Because of his reasons, the police had let Dr. Cossack go, for which the Light family was thankful.

On the monitor, Dr. Cossack began to speak. "I have my robots out clearing out any civilian areas where Wily's mechaniloids might stray. However, there really isn't much that I can do. People are still wary of me, and with good reason too. It's a good thing that you, Mega Man, are defeating the Robot Masters," said Dr. Cossack.

"Thanks, but I kinda have to," Mega Man said.

"Is there any other way that I can help?" asked Dr. Cossack.

"...As a matter of fact, there is..." said Dr. Light.

* * *

Ring Man was bored. He was sick of the people running away screaming when they saw him. But the robot knew that it hadn't been his fault; Wily had reprogrammed him, purged his memory, and forced him to do evil acts. However, the acts of him, his brothers, and his creator were so horrific that the people were unable to forget it. So he had to ignore any angry or spiteful comments that the people threw his way or the ones that ran away. 

"Ring Man!" a voice called from his communicator. Ring Man stopped and listened to his communicator.

"Doctor? What is it?" he asked.

"I just received some information from Dr. Light. Apparently, Dr. Wily stole a device known as the 'Time Skimmer.' When he told me about it, I was horrified that Wily might use it to do something bad." Quickly, Dr. Cossack explained about the Time Skimmer to his robot. "I have already told your brothers about this. I need you to keep an eye and ear out for this thing."

"Alright," Ring Man replied, shutting off his communicator. The red robot continued to trudge through the snow. Eventually, he came upon a forest, which he promptly walked into. Glancing around and noticing no one in sight, he created two Ring Boomerangs and began to juggle them, adding one every once in awhile. Ring Man was an efficient juggler, and he was soon juggling six Ring Boomerangs with no effort.

"That Time Skimmer thing has a password, doesn't it?" a voice said. Ring Man caught the six Boomerangs in midair, quickly put them away, and ducked behind a tree as two robots began walking past. He didn't recognize them, but they appeared to be related to the Sniper Joe. However, they were red instead of green and they lacked the shield.

"Yeah. The doctor has the thing well-guarded, behind that security vault," one of the Joe-like robots said to his companion. "The password's something about something he wants written everywhere, but that's all I know about it. In fact, I shouldn't even know that."

"How do you know that?" the second one asked.

"Well, it goes like this –" The two Joes walked out of the earshot of Ring Man, who stepped out from behind the tree.

"Well, that's something. I wonder what Dr. Cossack will make of this?" he asked himself. He started whistling a tune and walking back through the forest, once again pulling out several Ring Boomerangs and beginning to juggle them.

"Yes! Seven of them! Let's go for eight!" he beamed, pulling out another Boomerang in rapid succession. However, his hands were unable to keep up with eight Ring Boomerangs, and they all tumbled to the ground. "Aw..."

"Ring Man, what the heck are you doing?" the voice of Skull Man asked as he stared incredulously at the other Robot Master.

"..." Ring Man didn't answer as he dropped to the ground and began scooping up the Boomerangs. Blinking, he offered one to Skull Man, who was now standing in front of him. "Want to juggle?"

"...I'll pass, thank you," he said dryly. "Did you forget that the doctor told us to go information searching on the Time –"

"Shh!" hissed the other robot. "There were Wily bots here just now!" Skull Man blinked. "I managed to get something, but we can't let it be leaked. Got it?"

Skull Man nodded. "Okay. But we need to get this information back to Dr. Cossack." The two Robot Masters teleported out.

* * *

"Two down, six to go," Quint said, taking a break from staring at the monitor showing Wood Man's domain. Mega Man had long disappeared from Wood Man's domain. While waiting for Mega Man to return, he had hacked into the computer inside the laboratory room, checking to see whether Wily had left any clues about that password. 

He had found something. He had found a string of numbers under a file labeled "TSPW Clue" that said '0-4-1-8-1-5-0-2' but when he had entered it into the combo lock of the Time Skimmer, it had yielded no results. Quint was irritated. Wily had probably not written down the password for a reason, and it was probably to stop unwanted intruders from retrieving the Time Skimmer. Still, it was a clue...

Sakugarne was still watching the monitor, using his handle bars to shift between the worlds of the two remaining Robot Masters on Earth. He was bored, having nothing else to do. It was very annoying, waiting for his master's counterpart to arrive. Then he blinked and spotted something.

"Saku!" he said, gesturing to the screen. Quint walked over and looked at it.

"So, he decided to follow my advice after all, huh? Well, well, well... let's see how he does."

* * *

That password clue that Quint had found? It's not random. There's a reason I chose that particular string of numbers. I didn't put the actual password; I wanted to know whether anyone can figure it out before I spill the beans. I mean, I've given two clues in this chapter... 


	4. Identity Crisis

Chapter 3 is up! And Quint and Sakugarne have a conversation. You might notice that Quint's personality changes when he's talking to Mega Man. I tried to explain that this chapter during the conversation between Quint and Sakugarne.

* * *

"Note to self: I don't like heights!" Mega Man yelped as he nearly slipped off of a platform. Following 'Shadow's' advice, he had decided to go after Air Man next. Air Man's world was just as Mega Man remembered it; high up in the clouds. And he wasn't liking it. He nearly slipped again, and saved himself by grabbing onto another platform. 

"Phew!" he gasped. "I can't wait to get out of here!" He swung up onto the platform and found himself facing a familiar gate. Cautiously, he tapped it. It opened, to his surprise. "Either Wily knew that this wasn't working, or 'Shadow' decided to help me out without telling me." Shrugging, Mega Man went through the hallway, opened the second door, and confronted Air Man.

Air Man, like his stage, was exactly how Mega Man remembered him: blue armor and a huge fan for a mouth and chest. The robot tried the exact same tactics as it had in their previous fight a few Robot Rebellions ago. It didn't work. Seconds later, Air Man was nothing but scrap as Mega Man picked up the Air Shooter.

"Air Shooter," 'Shadow' commented. "Nice weapon, useful for Crash Man. But I think you already know that, right?"

"Yeah," said Mega Man absentmindedly. He was slowly becoming used to his strange ally, and it didn't bother him when he spoke from nowhere anymore. "Crash Man's the last one, so I'm off to his place, right?"

"Yep... hang on, what? What is it?" Mega Man stood patiently, realizing that 'Shadow' was talking to someone else there. Then Mega Man could have sworn he heard a voice say "Saku!"

"Er... I kinda have to get out of here... I'll see ya later, okay? I already unlocked the gate in Crash Man's place, so get over there!"

"..." Mega Man just shook his head before teleporting out.

* * *

"Crap..." Quint panted as he ran through the hallways. "What does Wily want now?" The area where Wily's personal laboratory is located is near the top of the Skull Fortress. Wily had just summoned Quint there. Why, Quint didn't know. However, he was fearing the worst. 

He barreled into the room, nearly colliding with a computer. He calmed down and turned to look at Wily, trying to ignore his stomach, which was doing flip-flops.

"Three of my Robot Masters are destroyed," Wily said, sounding slightly ticked. "If Crash Man is also destroyed, then this fortress is my last line of defense. You are to be the line of defense before me. Got it?"

"Yes..." Quint said a little absentmindedly. He was still trying to work out possible combinations for the lock on the Time Skimmer. Luckily, Wily didn't notice his absentmindedness and simply sent him back to where he had been.

Quint walked back, stopping once again at the room with the Time Skimmer. He tried inputting some of his theory passwords. No luck. "Gah!" he ejaculated, extremely frustrated as he stalked off towards the room where he had been keeping an eye on Mega Man. "Just what the heck is the password!"

* * *

"You can't dodge me forever, Mega Man!" one very trigger-happy Robot Master shouted as he continuously threw Crash Bombs at his opponent. Mega Man nimbly leaped and dodged most of them, but a couple of them smacked him in the face. 

Crash Man had attacked him the moment that he had entered the room, so Mega Man had been too busy dodging his attacks to shoot at him. He had switched to Air Shooter, but he didn't have good aim. He was just going to have to search for an opening. Concentrating, the blue robot continued to dodge his attacks until... there! He spotted the opening he was looking for and fired.

The tornado that shot out of his buster knocked Crash Man off of his feet and slammed him against the wall. Crash Man barely had time to get up again before Mega Man hit him with another shot of Air Shooter. This time, Crash Man was defeated.

Mega Man walked over and scooped up the Crash Bomber. "That's all of them..." He waited for a few minutes, but 'Shadow's' voice never came. So he teleported out.

* * *

"So, he's gone... now he just has to come up here," Quint said, glancing down at the screen. "I'm pretty sure he'll find a way. But if he doesn't, I'll give him a quick hand." He looked down at Sakugarne. "You know what I'm thinking, right?" The pogo-stick nodded in agreement. 

"Everything is going perfectly," he said to the pogo-stick. "The only obstacle is the password to the Time Skimmer. I just can't seem to figure it out!" He shook his head in frustration. "It doesn't matter if Mega Man gets up here if I can't figure out the password to the Time Skimmer..."

He flopped down onto the ground and suddenly had an idea. If he was Mega Man, and Wily used the Time Skimmer to kidnap him, shouldn't he have more information about it? And who knows, the password might be there, too, if Wily said it when he wasn't really paying attention.

**Diagnostics test for unit "DRN001 QUINT" have been located. Continue? Y/N**

_ N_

**Do what? Diagnostic/Query**

_ Queries_

**Query function activated. Search for what?**

_ Time Skimmer_

**1 match found. Read file? Y/N**

_ Y_

"**Dr. Albert W. Wily stole the Time Skimmer and password protected it with himself."**

"Password protected it with himself? What the heck?" Quint muttered to himself, unaware of Sakugarne staring at him. "When did he say that? I don't recall him saying that..."

**No further information can be found. Query again? Y/N**

_ Y_

**Search for what?**

_ Date, Time Skimmer_

**1 match found. Read file? Y/N**

_ Y_

"**April 4, 2026, 9:01:36."**

"...I wasn't even ACTIVATED then... was Mega Man subconsciously able to hear that before his memory files were corrupted...?"

"Saku?" asked Sakugarne.

"Aren't I Mega Man?" Quint repeated. "Well... it depends. Technically, I am, but technically, I am not. I was modified from Mega Man into Quint, but from what I've seen (or heard) of him, we have different personalities. He is more cheerful and outgoing. I'm more quiet and patient. In other words, we're not really the same person."

"Sakugarne?"

"...You have a point. If I'm Quint, then what did happen to the Mega Man that used to be inside my body? Is he still there, dormant, or is he dead?

"Sakuga."

"..." Quint stared at his companion, speechless. "How is it that you are so intelligent? You're saying that our personalities merged? Why do you think this?"

"Saku, saku, saku."

"...That actually makes sense. Now that you mentioned, there have been times where I have mood swings... specifically when I'm talking to Mega Man, I suddenly feel giddy and optimistic... is my old personality resurfacing at times?

"I also had no memories of a personality to go by, so I had to create my own personality based on my experiences. Life here has been rough, creating my quiet and patient personality, but Mega Man had a pretty good life up till the Robot Rebellions, which made him see the good in everything..."

"Oy... Why is my life so complicated...? I bet no one else is going through such an identity crisis!" Then his eyes widened, though Sakugarne couldn't tell. "Don't tell me I just made a joke in the middle of a serious sentence..."

"Saku!" the pogo-stick replied cheerfully.

"I hate mood swings..."

* * *

Sorry, I couldn't help but make that jab about the identity crisis. I also threw in one more clue about the password. Did I make it too hard to crack? One more thing: The diagnostics test. For some reason, doesn't like the symbol I used to indicate Quint's responses anymore. Odd, because it worked in the first book... so I just used _this_to indicate Quint's responses._  
_


	5. Some More Preparations

Agh! I'm so sorry for dropping off of the face of the Earth! You see, I had homework, and then Finals, so now that I'm on break, I should be able to write more of this story. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"So... any idea where Skull Fortress is?" Mega Man asked Dr. Light as the scientist studied the map with Dr. Cossack.

As it turned out, Dr. Cossack had decided to come over and work on a secret 'project' with Dr. Light while Mega Man was off robot-hunting. Mega Man and Roll were both completely clueless as to what it was, and decided not to inquire about it. However, Mega Man had learned what Ring Man had discovered, and his reply had been, "Well, anything that tells us anything about the Time Skimmer is good!"

"Nope. I have no idea. Wily certainly cloaked it well this time..." Dr. Light said, a cup of coffee in his hand. "We even have some of our former college friends looking for it. But we have absolutely no idea where it is. It's almost as if... it's not even on this planet.

* * *

"...not even on this planet." Quint listened as the bug recorded the conversation at Dr. Light's lab. He smiled. "Good guess, doctor. Now, how about a little extra hand?" His grin grew even wider, and, quickly making some preparations, opened a communication.

* * *

"Dr. Light, the comm. system is beeping," Roll said, stopping her dusting and gesturing towards the comm. system. She activated it once she confirmed that everyone was listening. A shadowy figure of about Mega Man's height appeared.

"Hello, greetings from Skull Fortress," the figure said. It didn't sound like Wily.

"Who are you?" Dr. Light asked, but before the figure could answer, Mega Man had blurted out, "Shadow?"

They could feel the figure's grin even if they couldn't see it. "Why yes, I'm so glad you remember me, Mega Man! I have some information that might be useful to you."

"And why should we trust you?" Dr. Cossack asked hotly. "You're a Wily bot!"

The figure paused. "... Am I? Try learning all of the facts first..."

"Well, who are you?" Cossack asked again.

"My background is of no importance right now," 'Shadow' replied. "Do you, or do you not want to know where Skull Fortress is? You do, right? Alright, then let me tell you. The current Skull Fortress is not on planet earth, but rather, is orbiting the planet. Mega Man, you need to find a vehicle that will transport you to space. It's at these coordinates above orbit." 'Shadow' rattled off some coordinate points. "I trust that you'll be able to find you way in. Any questions?"

"Just where am I supposed to find this vehicle?" Mega Man asked.

'Shadow' shrugged. "Try finding something that can change into other shapes, so that the spaceship function won't be completely wasted."

"Why are you helping us?" Dr. Light asked softly.

The shadowy figure appeared to hesitate. "I... just don't want Wily to win. This may sound odd coming from me... but there's a reason I want him to fail... which I shouldn't reveal right now... maybe later, I will be able to tell you about myself. Now is not the correct time. Anymore questions? No? See ya!"

And the comm. screen blinked out. Everyone present just stood there, blinking. "Well..." Dr. Cossack said. "That was... interesting..." No one else said anything.

* * *

"That was quite fun! Let's do it again!" Quint beamed once he had shut off the communications between himself and Dr. Light's lab. Sakugarne gave him a strange look. Quint settled down. "I'm sorry; I guess all this has been affecting my mind. I won't be surprised if I'm sent to a mental institution for robots. I probably have more psychiatric problems than humans...

"Anyways, now that we're approaching the end of this whole problem, let's reassess what we're gonna do. Mega Man comes up and defeats the four remaining Robot Masters. (hopefully). We stop him from killing us, and then explain everything to him."

"Saku?"  
"Okay, maybe not everything. I'm leaving out the part that I'm him. If he can help us crack the code with the few clues I have, all the better. He takes you, takes on Wily, and beats it from this place. I follow you guys after retrieving the Time Skimmer, and we run back to my time!"

"Sakugarne..." the pogo-stick said, sounding worried.

"Oh, you'll be fine! I'm sure he won't harm you!"

"Sakugarne!"

"Honestly..." Quint sighed, rubbing his forehead, and prepared to sooth Sakugarne about his fears of leaving Quint and heading off with someone else

* * *

"I know!" Mega Man shouted, as he leapt up from where he had been sitting.

"Know what?" asked Dr. Light.

"Rush! I can use HIM to travel to space!" he shouted excitedly. Then he paused. "If you'll modify him, of course."

"Of course! Rush can transform into many things! I just have to add an adaptor for him to travel to space... what does he have right now?" Dr. Light asked.

"Umm... Coil, Jet, and Marine Modes. Maybe if you fuse Jet and Marine together somehow, then I'll still be able to fly, but have protection against any space junk floating around..."

"Brilliant! But what will I call it?"

"Space Mode? And anyways, shouldn't you build it first?"

"Right, right..."

* * *

Proto Man sighed from his perch outside the house, watching as Mega Man and Dr. Light scurried around, trying to build the newly-named "Ship Mode." He knew that Quint was much more mature than Mega Man, and that his heart was in the right place, but he sincerely hoped that Quint would find a way out of this mess without attracting unwanted attention. He wanted to give Mega Man a heads up about Quint, without actually revealing who he is.

He slid off of the tree he was sitting in, and walked into the house. As he arrived at the main lab, he saw Dr. Light adding the final touches on 'Space Mode' Rush, and Mega Man watching him silently.

"Mega Man," he called, after whistling his signature tune. His blue-clad brother turned around. Dr. Light was so absorbed in his work that he had not heard Proto Man. "Can I talk to you in private?"

Mega Man blinked. "Uh, sure..."

The two robots went out of the main lab and into the living room, where both of them sat down on a couch. Proto Man sighed, and began speaking. "It's about your friend Qu... Shadow," he started. "I know that you guys are suspicious of him. But there's nothing to fear from him. His heart is in the right place."

"Do you know why he wants to defeat Wily?" asked Mega Man.

"..."

"Thought so. You know, but you won't say," Mega Man replied dryly.

"Well, is that really so important right now? All you need to know is that Shadow will go out of his way to help you. I know. I spoke to him personally."

"Well... if you're not right, then no one is, bro," Mega Man smiled softly. "I did trust Shadow, but now I know that I am able to trust him. Thanks."

And Mega Man hugged Proto Man, who just stood there. Mega Man frowned at him. "It's called a 'hug', brother."

"I know what a hug is!"

* * *

Dr. Light wiped sweat off of his brow, and placed down the wrench he had been working with. "Finally!" he gasped. "Space Mode is finished. Mega Man!" he called. Roll, Mega Man, and to Dr. Light's surprise, Proto Man walked into the room.

"I finished Space Mode. Rush is all ready," he said, gesturing to the robot dog, which barked in agreement. "Just say 'Rush Space' to activate.

"Alright!" Mega Man cheered. He patted his dog. "Rush Space!" The dog barked in acknowledgement, before being enveloped into a beam of light. When the light cleared, Rush had morphed into what appeared to be a cross of Jet Mode and Marine Mode: Space Mode.

Mega Man opened the cockpit of the dog, climbed in, and closed it. He waved to Dr. Light, Proto Man, Roll, and Dr. Cossack and Kalinka, who had just walked in. Then he flew to the roof, the skylight opening to allow him access, and flew off into space.

* * *

Whew, that chapter's finally over with! So, Mega Man heads off to Skull Fortress at last. What will happen next? 


	6. Not More Robot Masters

Agh. I hate school. I'm lucky if I even have time to work on this. The three-day weekend helped immensely though. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Mega Man whistled as he approached Skull Fortress. "Wily really went all out, didn't he?" he commented, gazing at the huge structure. It was sitting on a piece of flat metal, which, oddly, appeared to have some vegetation on it. He stepped off of his dog and gazed at the building for awhile, in awe. Then he approached the doors.

The blue robot opened the doors and traveled inside. Everything was very quiet, and nothing was moving in the hallway. It was also very dark. The silence spooked him slightly. He found a ladder at the end of the hallway, and climbed up.

He climbed and climbed and climbed until he reached the top. He blinked, and looked around until he found a sign. "Floor 8? I climbed eight stories?!" He winced. No wonder his arms were very sore. He gave them a few stretches, before opening a door and entering the only room in the entire hallway.

"Ah!" Mega Man gasped as the light of the room hit him. His eyes had grown so accustomed to the darkness of the hallways that the brightness of the light had startled him. Blinking once to focus, he noticed one thing: Dr. Wily was standing in the middle of the room.

"There you are, Dr. Wily!" Mega Man said, starting forward. As the blue robot took one step, Dr. Wily took one step back. Mega Man blinked, before taking another step forward. Again, Wily took one step back. There was a nasty grin on his face that made Mega Man suspicious. Slowly, he stepped one more time – and screamed as the floor fell out from underneath him.

"So long, Mega Fool!" he heard Wily cackle down as he fell. Cursing Wily, Mega Man twisted himself so that his feet were below him, and managed to land on his feet. He staggered a bit, trying to regain his balance, and looked at a nearby sign to see where he was.

"Laboratory 7A," he murmured. "I fell quite a long way, didn't I?"

Shaking his head, he glanced around the room, looking for an exit. There was none. Instead, however, there were four capsules sitting there, each with a light glowing very innocently.

"Of course. This is where the last four are – his fortress! It isn't his style to only have four..." Sighing, he gazed at the nearest capsule, and leapt into it.

* * *

"Sakugarne!" Sakugarne screamed at his master. Quint didn't stir; he was fast asleep. "SAKUGARNE!!!!" Still no answer. Annoyed, the pogo-stick finally bonked Quint on the head.

"Ow!" yelped Quint, sitting up. He glared. "What was that for?!"

"Saku," the pogo-stick replied smugly. "Saku." It hopped around a bit, talking. "Sakugarne! Sakuga!"

"Mega Man's here at Skull Fortress?" Quint stood up as fast as he could and dashed to the system where he had been spying on Mega Man.

When he had finally gotten a hold of his younger self's location, he whistled. "Wow. He's already reached the floor above me. Of course, that's to see if he survives the four Robot Masters without any help..."

"Sakuga?" asked Sakugarne, confused.

"I can't. All of Skull Fortress's communications can be heard throughout the fortress. It worked on Earth because all of Earth wasn't connected to Skull Fortress. If I say anything in the system, it will reach Wily's ears, and that will put all three of us in deep water."

"Saku..." was the reply. Quint placed his hand between Sakugarne's handlebars and patted him worriedly.

_Come on, Mega Man, I know you can do it!_

* * *

"And here's another gate..." Mega Man sighed as he tapped the gate. Surprisingly, it opened this time with little protest. He hadn't heard from Shadow, and was wondering whether the robot was okay, or whether he had bailed out on him, - or whether he was afraid that he might be caught.

He walked through the hallway before approaching another gate. Before tapping it, he paused. Everything in this area had reminded him of one person. And if it was that person... he sighed. "Oh boy." He finally tapped the gate, and it opened. Mega Man stepped inside – only to dodge a flurry of needles.

"Gah!" he screamed, rolling to the side. As he glanced up, he noticed a short, squat robot that had needles for hair. "NeedleMan?!"

The robot didn't respond; it merely continued shooting. _Where's the Gemini Laser when you need it?!_ he groaned silently, dodging a flurry of needles. Then he got an idea – what if he could blow those needles back?

Quickly, he activated the Air Shooter. "Here ya go!" The tornadoes whirled around, spinning the needles away and crashing into NeedleMan. A few shots later, the robot was history. "Well, that wasn't so bad..." Mega Man said, picking up the Needle Cannon. He teleported out of the room, and when he once again reached the room with the capsule, leapt into another one

* * *

Mega Man winced as he finally approached the gate. The place had been full of Mag-Flies, which were only too happy to pick him up and drop him off at random intervals. Because of them, he was sporting a lot of bruises. Shaking his head, he opened the gate, traveled down the hallway, and into another gate. He knew who he was facing this time.

And he was right. Magnet Man let off a few Magnet Missiles, making Mega Man dodge. Then he tried to draw Mega Man at him by magnetizing his body. The blue bomber did his best to slide away, before aiming his new Needle Cannon and shooting them. The magnetic field stopped abruptly, and Mega Man, realizing that it was working, continued shooting the Needle Cannon at him until the Robot Master groaned and collapsed.

"I didn't even approach him at my best..." Mega Man mumbled, picking up the Magnet Missiles from his fallen foe. "Oh well. Where there's a will, there's a way." He teleported back to the capsule room.

* * *

"He's gotten past two of them already... wow," Quint commented, gazing at Mega Man from his view screen. "But he's hurt bad. There's gotta be a way to help him... without Wily noticing..."

Quint sat down on the floor and thought for awhile. Then he started rummaging through the storage compartments in the room, before pulling something out. His eyes lit up as he gazed at the object in his hand. "Of course!"

* * *

Phew. I seriously debated on whether to stick all four of the Robot Masters in Skull Fortress in this chapter, but in the end, I decided not to. They'll show up in the next chapter. 


	7. Just Two More

After an eternity, I update. Here's the next chapter.

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow..." Mega Man whimpered as he limped out of the capsule. Magnet Man had beat him up rather harshly. Now, low on energy as he was, he believed he wouldn't survive the next Robot Master – whoever it was. "It could be someone easy, like Top Man," he mused. "Then again, I might get unlucky and end up facing someone like Hard Man, and if that happens, I'm dead – literally." 

He slumped down beside a wall. "I guess I have no choice. I need to sleep." Sleeping was one way of how he recharged. He wouldn't have minded an E-Tank or two, considering the circumstances, but even if he did survive the next Robot Master, he'd be too low on energy anyways to face the fourth.

Closing his eyes, a sudden thought struck Mega Man as he drifted off to sleep. _Where did Rush get to...?_

* * *

Rush had followed Mega Man towards Skull Fortress, but had found a Mettool and ended up chasing it throughout the fortress. However, the Mettool had escaped, leaving Rush lost, bored, and with nothing to do. 

Sniffing the ground, hoping to pick up Mega Man's scent, he had wandered the castle, wondering what to do.

Then he picked up what appeared to be Mega Man's scent. The fact that it was slightly different should have tipped Rush off, but he was too anxious and worried to make note of these differences. Panting happily, he dashed off in the direction of the scent, passing a sign labeled 'Hallway 6'...

* * *

Quint blinked as he stared down at the red dog. Rush had followed the scent, only to not find Mega Man. Luckily for Rush, the person had turned out friendly. Perhaps this was the same 'Shadow' person that his master had supposedly made friends with. 

"You're Rush, aren't you?" Quint asked the dog, which nodded in a very human-like manner. "I see... what are you doing here? Why aren't you with Mega Man?" Rush just whined. Quint sighed. "You're lost, then... Not a good place to be lost if you're against Wily."

Quint turned towards the computer and pulled up a map. He labeled two points on the map, one with a green dot and the other with a blue dot. "Okay, look here." The dog looked up as Quint traced a path from the green dot to the blue dot. "The green dot is where we are. The blue dot is where Mega Man is. Now, this path will get you to him. Think you can find him now?"

The dog yipped in a happier tone. "Oh, and Rush, he seems to be worn out. Think you can take this to him?" the green robot asked, showing Rush a rather large bag. The dog popped open a panel on his back, and Quint placed the bag inside. Then Rush ran off.

* * *

"Ah!" Mega Man yelped as something wet licked him on the face. Opening his eyes, he found his dog sitting on his lap, tail wagging. "Rush!" 

The robot dog barked and climbed off of his master. Mega Man smiled. "Where have you been, boy?" he asked, reaching out and scratching Rush behind the ears. In response, the dog flipped open the panel in his back and launched the bag that Quint had given him. Mega Man caught it in surprise.

He opened it, and found... "Whoa! Where'd you get these?!" Mega Man stared at the assortment of five E-Tanks, five W-Tanks, and one M-Tank. Gingerly picking them up, he stored them away. As he shook the bag, a small piece of printed paper fell out.

'Mega Man, somehow your dog found his way to me. I was planning to get this stuff to you anyways, and figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. A friend – you'll learn who I am soon enough...'

Mega Man just shook his head, and leapt into the third capsule while Rush waited.

* * *

"Oy..." Mega Man mumbled, nursing a sore jaw. Some of the robots in this are had been particularly nasty. Most them enjoyed punching him, and while he had dodged most of them, a couple had gotten lucky and now various parts of Mega Man's body hurt from the bruises. "I definitely wouldn't have survived if I hadn't decided to recharge..." 

Giving his jaw one last rub, he walked towards the gate in the area. Stopping before it, he gave it a tentative tap. It opened, so he dashed inside, not bothering to halt as the second gate began to open. He ducked under it and soon was faced with Hard Man. He groaned. _I knew it!_

The huge, heavy-set Robot Master didn't even say anything as he launched his Hard Knuckles at Mega Man. The blue robot quickly dodged them – one hit from them would hurt quite a bit.

Then, quite abruptly, Hard Man leaped into the air. "Yow!" yelped Mega Man, knowing what that meant. Shooting off a few retaliatory shots, he quickly jumped into the air as Hard Man landed and caused a mini-earthquake.

"Okay, time to get serious..." he frowned, and quickly cycled through his weapons before selecting the Magnet Missile. Hard Man was unable to dodge the numerous homing missiles that Mega Man sent his way, and a few minutes later, he was history.

The little blue robot picked up the Hard Knuckle and went back to the room with the teleporting capsules.

* * *

"Seven down, one to go!" Quint beamed. "Excited, Sakugarne?" 

"Saku." The pogo-stick rolled its eyes.

The green robot rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "Eh heh... I guess I am acting a little strange... but it's not like I can help it..."

"Sakugarne," was the response, and for some odd reason, Quint had the feeling that Sakugarne was saying, "Whatever."

* * *

"One last Robot Master, and I am outta here!" Mega Man growled as he dodged another one of those odd spinning robots. "I can think of only one person who loves these robots..." He bolted through the gate, and called out, "Where are you, Top Man?!" 

"Right here!" the yellow-orange Robot Master called back. "And around we goooooo!"

"As psychotic as ever," Mega Man noted wryly as Top Man spun around on his wheels and tried to crash into him, but crashed into a wall when Mega Man dodged at the last second. The blue robot aimed his buster and fired at Top Man.

"No fair!" the robot whined as the shot connected.

Mega Man mumbled something unintelligible and fired a fully charged shot at Top Man, destroying him. Then he sighed, and said, "At least I put you out of your misery..." Scooping up the Top Spin, he stared at it.

"Top Spin. Aka, the most useless weapon ever. Except against Gamma. Who, hopefully, will never appear again." He went back to the room with the capsules.

* * *

"And he's done!" Quint announced to Sakugarne. "You ready?" 

"Saku," replied the pogo-stick.

Quint's hand hovered over a lever on the table as he frowned in though. "I only wish I had been able to figure out the password to the Time Skimmer." He shrugged. "Guess I have no choice." He pulled the lever and left the room.

* * *

"Huh?" Mega Man and Rush blinked as they heard an odd, grating sound. Then, to Mega Man's disbelief, a part of the floor disappeared, revealing a hole to the floor below. The two walked over to it and inspected the hole. 

"Hmm... I can't see much. It might be a trap. Then again," he looked up, "it might be my only way out." He pulled out an E-Tank and a W-Tank, and drank the contents down, fully recharging himself and his weapons.

Rush barked as Mega Man prepared to leap into the hole.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to jump!" Mega Man called as he leapt into the hole.

* * *

Aah! I'm so sorry for not updating! Really! I am! Junior year in high school, plus a gazillion school projects at the same time, plus the SATs equal a very exhausted and tired me with no energy to work on anything including my fanfiction. I'll try to get a couple chapters done during the break I'm on. 


	8. Past vs Future

Mega Man and Quint finally meet face-to-face. I have nothing else to say.

* * *

Mega Man landed with a 'thump' as he steadied himself to prevent his face from meeting the cold, hard floor. Glancing up at the hole that was now in the roof, he caught sight of a small red face looking down.

"Rush, don't follow! I'll call you if I need you!" The dog barked in acknowledgement, and then yelped as the hole was covered up, effectively preventing Rush from following. Mega Man, unable to watch his dog any longer, turned his attention to the rest of the room.

It looked like a hallway, with 'Floor 6' written on a slate on the wall. He, apparently, was on one end of the hallway. And, on the other end, another robot was standing there. It was no robot he recognized. While the design was a lot like his, there were subtle differences. For one, the visor and the green color scheme.

"Mega Man. At last we meet," the robot said.

"Shadow?!" Mega Man gasped out.

The robot nodded. "Yes. It was I who was your, as I said, 'shadow.' However, my real name is Quint."

Mega Man gazed at him. "Quint."

The robot nodded again. "I do, however, need ask you a favor. Fight me."

"What?!" Mega Man was unable to comprehend a reason. This 'Quint' had helped him survive the eight robot masters, and had even given him E-Tanks, W-Tanks, and an S-Tank, but now he wanted to fight him...?!

Quint nodded yet again. "I have my reasons, and I will fully explain them to you later. Sakugarne!"

As Mega Man watched, a pogo-stick slash jack-hammer mechaniloid bounced into the room. Quint, giving it a brief smile, hopped onto it. "Mega Man, are you ready?"

Frowning, Mega Man formed his buster. And the two fought

* * *

Quint gritted his teeth as another one of Mega Man's shots grazed him. While most of his body was protected by Sakugarne, his upper body and head were still vulnerable to his counterpart's shots. But no one had told him that plasma burns _hurt_. He was glad that he had made Sakugarne invulnerable to plasma...

To his credit, he had dealt few blows to his counterpart himself. He had to make this look convincing... just one simple wayward shot...

Sakugarne nearly tackled Mega Man, who fell as the mechaniloid shook the ground with its drill. Leaping up, Mega Man fired once again at Quint – and missed as it bounced off Sakugarne.

"Mega Man!" Quint called. "Shoot the camera!" _He'd better listen..._

_Camera?_ Mega Man frowned, and, dodging another attack by the duo, glanced up near the top of the room and noticed, for the first time, a video camera attached to the wall. It appeared to be filming the battle. Then his eyes widened. _What if Quint's attacking me because...?_ Without any hesitation, Mega Man fired a charged shot at the video camera.

The camera exploded into fragments of dust, black plastic, and glass. Quint sighed. "Phew." He hopped off of Sakugarne and raised his hands briefly in the air. "Sorry Mega Man, but I had to make it look convincing."

Numbly, Mega Man lowered his buster. "Is that why...?"

"Yeah." Quint reached over, grabbed Mega Man by the arm, and began dragging him down a hallway.

"Ack!" Mega Man yelped, startled by the sudden movement. He stumbled after Quint as the robot pulled him into a room labeled 'Laboratory 6B' before letting go of him and shutting the door.

Quint turned his head to the far end of the room, and Mega Man's eyes followed his gaze. He frowned as he noticed the metal safe with the combination lock. "What's that?" the blue robot asked.

"That," Quint said, "is where the Time Skimmer is." He smiled at Mega Man's wide-eyed expression. "I knew it's been there the entire time. However, I just have one problem – Wily put that lock on it, and neither Sakugarne nor I have been able to figure it out."

"Any ideas?" Mega Man asked.

"A few. In Wily's computer, I found a file labeled 'TSPW Clue', with the numbers '0-4-1-8-1-5-0-2' in it, but that didn't work. Also, I read somewhere that he password protected it with himself."

"Eh?"

"My thoughts exactly." _Literally_.

"Funny, Ring Man mentioned something about a password he overheard some Wily bots talking about," commented Mega Man. "Something about a word that he wants written everywhere. I'm not quite sure what it means."

The two sat there for awhile, pondering over what the password could possibly be. Quint mulled over the information in his head, before hitting a sudden realization. _Wow, if Wily really made _that_ the password, then he's much smarter than I give him credit for. But I need to check first..._ So he stood up, and walked over to the Time Skimmer. Mega Man shot him a curious glance and followed.

"What is it?" Mega Man asked.

"I have a hunch. I'm not sure if it's right or not, but it's worth a shot. Of course, it would make sense..." Quint took the lock in his hands, and entered a string of eight numbers. The lock gave a 'Ding!' of acknowledgement and opened.

"It opened!" Mega Man gasped. He picked up the lock, staring at the combination on it. "Now that I think about it, it does make sense..." He smiled, placing the lock down with the combo in full view, which just happened to be '2-3-0-9-1-2-2-5'.

Gingerly, he helped Quint pull out a laptop-sized device. It looked very odd, with a blank screen and buttons and knobs everywhere. On the bottom of the device, the words 'Time Skimmer' were written.

"We did it! We got the Time Skimmer back!" Mega Man grinned. "I guess I should destroy it..." Sighing, he formed a buster.

"Ack!" Quint nearly panicked. "Wait! Don't!" Mega Man gave him an odd look, but didn't shoot at the machine. "I have my reasons! Hear me out, okay?"

"You see, the reason I exist in the first place is because of that thing. Wily used it to travel thirty years into the future to find new technology," Quint started.

"So...?"

"As for the technology he found, it happened to be a robot. He kidnapped the robot, brought it back to this time, and reprogrammed it. Three guesses as to who it was, and the first two don't count."

"You, huh?" Mega Man said softly.

Quint nodded. "Bingo. Luckily for me, I found out about myself and what Wily had done. The kidnapping left me a bit... unprepared, as Wily hadn't attacked for who knows how long in my era. But I want to go home and that Time Skimmer is the only thing that gives me that power to go home. That's why I can't let you destroy it. Destroy it, and I'm stranded here until my era comes about, which won't be for another thirty or so years. I doubt I'll be around that long. Most robots aren't." It wasn't the complete truth, but it wasn't a lie either. Quint purposely left out the fact that he isn't Mega Man, and as far as Mega Man knows, Quint is just some random robot that Wily stole – nothing too unusual, as Wily did all the time.

"Well..." Mega Man started, but couldn't think of anything to say. He looked down, before glancing up and saying. "I really should get going. I can't very well kill you or destroy the Time Skimmer. But I kinda have to stop Wily."

"One more thing," Quint called as Mega Man turned to leave.

"Yes?"

"Take Sakugarne with you."

"SAKUGARNE!!!!!" Both Mega Man and Quint plugged their ears as the mechaniloid in question screamed in protest.

Quint frowned at it. "Didn't we already have this conversation?"

The pogo-stick sighed, and looked down. "Saku..."

"Take care of him, will you? He's a little hot-tempered, but he's my best friend in this era. And... if Wily asks about me, tell him that you, um... killed me and stole Sakugarne, okay? It won't be good if he discovers about my backstabbing."

"Gotcha. But what are you going to do?"

"Me? Well... I think I'll take the Time Skimmer down to Earth. But I'll wait for you before you leave. I don't feel like leaving Sakugarne here, but there's only two escape pods in this station – one stationed here, and one in Wily's lab. I can't very well grab the one in Wily's lab, and this one can barely fit one person. I'm pretty sure you have room, right?"

"Yeah, I think so. Rush should be able to fit both of us."

"Okay. Grab Rush and Sakugarne, and go finish off Wily. I'll take the Time Skimmer, and leave this station."

They shook hands.

"Good luck."

Mega Man turned around and left the room that he had entered in, with Sakugarne bouncing behind him. He'd summon Rush, and then go fight Wily. Quint, meanwhile, left through a back door, the Time Skimmer in his arms

* * *

Phew. I thought I'd never get this chapter out. Of course, I have a little challenge for you guys: why did I pick that particular string of numbers for the combination lock to the Time Skimmer? It's not random, so figure it out! 


	9. Wily's Wrath

Whee! School's out, and I can finally enjoy my summer vacation! Expect more chapters in this series to come out. I'll try to get as many out as I can before school starts next August.

AN: What the heck?! I uploaded this chapter yesterday - heck I even CHECKED, and it said it was uploaded, but I never got the confirmation email, and when I checked today, it didn't even exist...? Is the site having server problems again?

Here, Mega Man meets Wily. Enjoy!

* * *

"Spikes!" Mega Man complained. "I hate spikes!" Wily always had a nasty habit of placing spikes at rather tricky places of his fortress, and it took all of Mega Man's skill, combined with a little bit of luck and help from Sakugarne and Rush, to cross these particular pits. Oddly enough, both Sakugarne and Rush were immune to spikes, something which Mega Man couldn't understand to this day and age. 

Finally clearing the last few pits of spikes, he sighed with relief and flopped down to regain his composure a bit. The two helper robots halted next to him. While sitting, he turned studied them.

It was odd, to Mega Man, that Sakugarne and Rush weren't fighting. The two seemed to know each other, if only briefly, and seemed to get along well together. Also, despite Sakugarne's loud vocal protest, it seemed to trust Mega Man almost as much as it did Quint. And also, there was something odd about Sakugarne. The robot was much too intelligent to be a simple mechaniloid, and clearly had a conscience.

Mega Man stood up, and continued to walk through the fortress, with the other two trailing behind him.

* * *

"Ulp..." Quint swallowed as he noticed a room full of mechaniloids. They didn't seem to be equipped with as many weapons as the normal ones in Wily's fortress, but they still posed a threat to a person with no free hands and no weapons. 

Taking a deep breath, Quint protected as much of the Time Skimmer as he can with his hands and bolted through the crowd of mechaniloids.

* * *

The next room Mega Man entered was pitch-black. He could see nothing except for the eyes of Sakugarne and Rush. Rush began to whimper slightly, and Sakugarne hopped around nervously. 

"What's wrong, guys?" Mega Man asked.

"They must be sensing me."

Mega Man whirled around as the lights turned on, nearly blinding him. In front of him, in an odd machine resembling the walkers from the old Star Wars movies, was Dr. Wily himself. He didn't look too happy. The Blue Bomber readied his Buster, wary of his nemesis.

"So," the scientist started. "I see you gotten here. That means you have destroyed everyone, correct?"

Mega Man blinked. "Yes," he lied, knowing full well that Quint was still alive.

"Including Quint?" Wily asked.

"Who?" responded Mega Man, feigning a puzzled tone.

"The green robot that once owned that pogo-stick," answered Dr. Wily.

"Oh. Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

Dr. Wily smiled an odd, smug smile that the robot couldn't quite read. It was as if he was... happy at the thought that Quint was dead. "It seems, however, that your time is now up! _Auf Wiedersehen_, Mega Man." The walker he was in began to hop across the room, firing at him every once in awhile.

Rush and Sakugarne hid behind some fallen debris, while Mega Man slid, jumped, and dodged many of the attacks. As he did so, he fired at various parts of the robot walker's body, hoping to find a weak spot.

_Not there, not there..._ he thought as several of his shots bounced off. He frowned as he realized something. _He's weak spot MUST be at the top. And there's no way I can hit that high without putting myself in great danger... unless... Rush or Sakugarne? No, Rush will be killed... but Sakugarne's invulnerable..._

"Sakugarne!" Mega Man called to the pogo-stick. "A little help?" It bounced over to him. Mega Man gulped slightly as a stray shot hit Sakugarne, but it simply bounced off. Sighing with relief, Mega Man hopped on, and, using what he had seen when Quint had battled, used Sakugarne's drill to bounce high into the air and hit Wily's machine in the cockpit. It took damage. _Bingo!_ Pelting the cockpit with the drill under Sakugarne, he continued attacking until the machine looked like it was about to explode.

As the machine exploded into a shower of flames, Wily's flying saucer flew out of the cockpit and flew towards the back of room. Mega Man's eyes followed it until he spotted it enter an odd, bulldozer-type machine. "Oh no..." Quickly, he drained an E-Tank, and hopped off Sakugarne, who hopped back to its hiding-place with Rush.

The bulldozer machine had the same attacks as before. Since his target was lower, it meant that Mega Man was able to find the weak point much faster. One difference that was bad, though, was the fact that the bulldozer tried to run him over occasionally. Gritting his teeth, Mega Man leapt out of the way as Wily sped by with the bulldozer, and continued to pelt the machine with plasma bullets.

Finally, it too looked like it was about to explode. So Wily maneuvered is saucer just as it exploded and into yet another machine. Mega Man cursed and drained another E-Tank. The machine was shaped like a dragon, and the blue robot had too many bad memories about dragon robots.

The attacks were different, and Mega Man found them easier to dodge then the others. Four balls would come out of the machine, but they were easily predictable, as was the fire that the dragon breathed. Briefly, Mega Man mused whether Wily had modified the dragon he had fought in the Second Rebellion.

The dragon, too, fell. "Damn it!" cursed Wily as he flew his saucer out.

Slowly, Mega Man moved forward to apprehend him, but Wily flew out of a secret exit. "Rush! Sakugarne!" he called. The dog barked in acknowledgement, transformed into Space Mode, and both Mega Man and Sakugarne clambered inside.

Mega Man fired Rush's thrusters to maximum, and flew through the same secret exit that Wily had. Pretty soon, he spotted Wily's saucer flying away. "Get back here, Wily!" he called angrily.

* * *

Quint sighed with relief as he finally touched down on the planet Earth. He hadn't been sure if he would survive plunging through the mechaniloids like that. He fell to his knees, the Time Skimmer in his hands, and smelled the sweet earth that he hadn't in a very long time. Practically his entire existence, as far as he could remember, had been aboard the space station. 

"Now, to find the lab..." he murmured to himself as he abandoned the shuttle, chose a direction, and began to walk. "...I hope those three are okay... Hmm? What's that?" He frowned as he noticed two beams of light heading for Earth.

* * *

Muttering something unintelligible, Mega Man burst out of the space station, hot on Wily's heels, and quickly fired off a shot from Rush. The shot hit the spaceship, which careened out of control and fell to the planet. Sighing, he said, "Well, that takes care of that problem..." 

Carefully, he maneuvered Rush to where Wily had crash-landed, but while the ship was there, the evil scientist himself had disappeared.

"Drat, he must have escaped." He and Sakugarne climbed out of Rush and the dog-ship transformed itself back into a dog, its Space Mode all used up.

"Hey!" a voice called. All three spun around as Quint ran over to them. He skidded to a halt, a grin on his face. "I saw you guys land here. Glad you made it out of Skull Fortress." Then, speaking to Sakugarne, he said, "So, miss me? How'd Mega Man treat you?" Mega Man flushed slightly as the pogo-stick made a few happy bounces. "Good, good..."

"So..." Mega Man asked as Quint shifted his grip on the Time Skimmer and hugged Sakugarne. "What are we going to do now? Are you going to use it now to go back to your own time?"

Quint paused, a thoughtful expression – or as thoughtful as he can get with a visor obscuring most of his face. "I don't know. I did kind of leave the people at your Dr. Light's lab hanging. Maybe we should head over there?"

"Sure. By the way..." Mega Man started.

"Yeah?" asked Quint.

"Are you finally going to tell me who on earth you are, and why you so desperately wanted me to win instead of Wily even though you could have just returned to the future and not gotten yourself involved in this mess?"

"..."

"I'll take that as a no. Geez, you're as bad as Proto Man..."

* * *

Sorry, I couldn't resist that last line. XD 


	10. Debriefing Period

1586+ hits on the first one and 834+ hits on this one! Thanks guys! And yes, people, authors can see how many people view their story.

This SHOULD be the last chapter before the Epilogue. Enjoy.

* * *

"Ah, Mega Man, welcome home!" Dr. Light beamed as Mega Man walked up to the house with Rush, the Time Skimmer in his hands. "You recovered the Time Skimmer?" He took it from the blue robot. "Good job! And Wily?" 

"Got away," sighed Mega Man. "He escaped before I could capture him."

"Well, at least the Time Skimmer is safe and sound." Then he blinked, noticing something behind Mega Man. "Who is this?"

The green robot that Dr. Light noticed appeared to be VERY nervous, despite the visor covering half of his face. He was glancing down at his boots, one arm on the odd pogo-stick-like mechaniloid next to him.

"Oh. Um, this is Quint. He... helped me out."

* * *

Quint sat on the couch, Sakugarne by his side, still looking down at the floor. Dr. Light had shooed Mega Man away, as it became obvious that Quint didn't want to say what he wanted to in front of the blue robot, and he had managed to keep Roll occupied as well. Proto Man was nowhere to be seen, and even if he was, there was no way Dr. Light could stop him from overhearing their conversation. Besides, Quint had said that Proto Man already knew what he was about to say anyways. 

Dr. Light sat down on the chair across from him and fixed the robot an odd look. "Alright. Now can you explain your actions? I'm grateful that you helped out, but it is still strange..."

Lifting the E-Tank to his lips and taking a quick gulp of energy, Quint set the E-Tank down on the coffee table in front of them and removed his helmet, shaking his head to remove the helmet hair. Dr. Light stared at his face – a very familiar face; it was just the wrong colors.

"First of all, Quint's not my real name – that's just the one Wily called me. But I can't very well go around using my real name for two reasons. One was that Wily would have known that I rebelled, which wouldn't have been good, considering the effort he took in trying to wipe my memories," Quint began.

"The second reason?" Dr. Light asked. Quint smiled crookedly.

"I already exist in this time period."

Dr. Light shook his head. "What? What's your real name?"

Quint stayed quiet for such a long time that Dr. Light thought he wasn't going to say anything. Then, in such a soft whisper that the old scientist almost didn't hear it, he said, "Mega Man."

"...What?" Dr. Light shook his head again, as if trying to clear his mind. "Just how...?"

"It has everything to do with the Time Skimmer. See, when the Wily of this time stole it, he traveled around thirty years into the future – my time period. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but he somehow kidnapped me, purged my memories, and made me into... Quint."

"So how do you know that this really happened?"

Quint gave him a bitter smile. "I suppose you know that he enjoys bragging, even if it doesn't involve talking. He was never really nice to me compared to the other Robot Masters, and I kept having these dreams, so I finally hacked into his computer and found my files, which explained everything. It explained a lot, such as why I instinctively keep sticking my hand out even though my Buster's off-line, and why I never felt that I could trust Wily, even before I knew who I was."

"I have one more question..."

"Yes?"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Quint looked hesitant, but he said, "You can put me off-line and check my insides – compare them to Mega Man, or something like that."

"Saku!" The pogo-stick stared at him incredulously. Quint laughed.

"You really are my best friend aren't you?" he smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

* * *

It was later at night. Mega Man and Roll had rounded on them the moment they had finished their talk, but had been told firmly by Dr. Light to go to their rooms and go to sleep, since it was late and Mega Man was probably exhausted with battle, and Roll was probably exhausted with worrying about Mega Man. Dr. Light said that he would find Quint and Sakugarne a place to sleep. 

With that being said and done, the scientist took the two of them into his lab. Quint lay down on a lab table, trying to stifle his nervousness as Dr. Light found his off-switch and shut him down. With Quint unconscious, the human took a scan of his insides on his computer and matched it to Mega Man's schematics. They matched perfectly.

Then Dr. Light manually booted up Quint's diagnostics and checked several things. "ID number... check. Mega Buster... check. Slide... check." Everything matched up perfectly. The Mega Buster was a model that Dr. Light hadn't created, as it was Mark 13 and Dr. Light had only created up to Mark 6, but there was no doubt that this robot was Mega Man.

Quint blinked groggily as Dr. Light reawakened him, but he focused enough to give the scientist an inquiring gaze. "I believe you," Dr. Light said in response to his unasked question. "There's no doubt about it."

"Well, um... about the Time Skimmer. I kind of want to use it to go home to my own time... so... um..."

"Yes. You can take it. But... wouldn't it be better if you waited until morning? It is very late, and considering what you went through, you must be tired. I have a spare room that you could borrow."

Quint nodded, so Dr. Light led him and Sakugarne into a room on the second floor. It looked much nicer than Quint's old room at Skull Fortress had, and the bed was much softer too. The green robot flopped down on the bed, and sighed, tossing his helmet on the floor and closing his eyes.

"I see you did it."

His eyes sprang open at the voice, and he saw a very familiar red robot standing by the window. The window was open, looking as if the red robot had just climbed through it.

"Proto Man."

The red robot offered no other words as he stepped into the room and walked towards the door. He opened it, before turning back to Quint and saying, "Well done."

Quint sweatdropped as Proto Man walked out the door, before turning to Sakugarne. "Is he, or is he not my brother? He is so weird..."

* * *

Everybody was assembled in the main lab; Quint and Sakugarne were at the middle of the room, Dr. Light and Mega Man were standing by the main computer, Roll was standing by the doorway with Rush and Beat. Proto Man, as usual, was nowhere to be seen, but he was most likely watching from somewhere. 

Quint gazed down at the Time Skimmer in his hands before looking at everybody else. "I guess this is goodbye then." Placing the machine down, he punched a few buttons on it before stepping back.

Filling the room with light for a split second, a circular, rainbow-colored vortex five feet tall and three feet wide appeared in the room as the Time Skimmer hummed. Quint was about to step through it, when he looked back at the Light family. He smiled at everyone. "Thanks again."

He turned to step through the warp, but then stopped. "Huh?"

The Time Skimmer was no longer humming peacefully; instead, it was sparking and fizzing slightly, but in a way that alarmed Quint. "Wh-what?!" Nudging Sakugarne to the side, Quint knelt down by the Time Skimmer.

"Quint, look out!"

The green robot barely had time to look up as the rainbow-colored designs on the vortex began to swirl madly, and the shape of the vortex began to flicker and warp. The Time Skimmer began emitting an odd, high-pitched whine, and the last thing Quint noticed was that someone had grabbed him before he heard an explosion and his world went black.

* * *

Dr. Light, Roll, Rush, Beat, and Sakugarne coughed as smoke filled a room. Roll hurried over to a window and quickly opened it to give the room some ventilation. "Dr. Light!" she called. "What happened?!" The scientist coughed, but as the smoke cleared, they noticed something alarming. 

The smoke was no longer there, and neither was the Time Skimmer. However, Quint and Mega Man were no longer there, either.

"Mega Man!" Roll screamed, dashing over to the spot and looking around, as if hoping to spot her brother. "Did... did that...?"

Dr. Light shook his head, rubbing his forehead in a gesture of worry. "I don't think so, Roll." He sighed. "My guess is that they have been flung somewhere in time." Everyone stared at him.

"Saku...?" Sakugarne whimpered.

Now, the scientist didn't understand what Sakugarne had said, but he made a very good guess. "I don't know. Most likely they are in the future, and they'll most likely try to get back here. But unfortunately... we can't do a thing, as we don't know how far into the future they were flung. All we can do is wait..."

* * *

I didn't like this chapter too much - It seems a little rushed, and Dr. Light's reaction could have been better. But my opinion doesn't matter, right?  



	11. Epilogue

Yes, I'm back from the dead. Again. Anyways, today, June 30, 2007, is my 17th birthday. Holy crap, I'm updating this on my birthday. Feel special.

* * *

"Ugh..." Quint groaned as he finally regained consciousness. He limbs hurt, and it felt like he had just taken a beating. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he sat up, placing a hand on his head. His helmet had protected his head, but it still felt like someone had tried to chisel their way out with a drill. "Where... am I?" 

Indeed, it did not look like any place he had seen before (but that might not mean anything). The sky was a dull shade of red, as if dust was covering the air. The buildings around him resembled those of Tokyo, but there was something... different about them. It was almost as if they were rotten and falling apart.

Quint stood up and looked around nervously. Something about this place was giving him the creeps. He looked down, and spotted the Time Skimmer. He picked it up, and noticed that it was still sparking and fizzing. Frowning, he held it up over his head, examining it at every angle... until it died completely.

"Uh oh," he murmured. He opened it, but could see nothing wrong with it. Muttering angrily, he snapped the machine shut and gave his surroundings another good, hard look. His jaw dropped as he spotted the unconscious blue figure crumpled against the wall. "Mega Man?!"

Dashing over, he kneeled down and examined his younger self. Flipping him over, he checked his systems, and noticed that he was alright – just unconscious. Slapping the other slightly to wake him up, Quint sat back as Mega Man blinked and opened his eyes.

"Quint? I thought you went home?" Mega Man asked, sitting up wearily. He winced immediately, clutching his head in pain.

"Something in the Time Skimmer malfunctioned," Quint told him grimly. "I don't have a lot of memories, but I'm quite sure this isn't my time period."

Mega Man froze. "We... traveled through time?"

"I think so. Problem is, we don't know where – or when, as the case may be – we are!"

The two robots stood up, and Mega Man examined his surroundings carefully, noting the dystopian style that the buildings appeared to have. A slight wind blew, blowing away the dust that had settled in the area.

"Quint?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do?"

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_

* * *

Finally, this one is done...! Just read this chapter, and the CD Database & Author's Notes, and I can start working on the third book. 


	12. CD Database & Author's Notes

CD DATABASE

This here is a CD Database, continuing from Mega Man & Bass, with characters that either are my own original characters (and I try not to make them Mary Sues / Gary Stus) in this series or characters that are original Mega Man characters that appear or are mentioned in this series.

103. Dr. Cossack  
Dr. Light's best friend. He was framed in the Fourth Robot Rebellion.  
"I don't want to, but I have no choice..."  
Good Point: Loving father  
Bad Point: Easily blackmailed  
Likes: Flying things  
Dislikes: Dr. Wily

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 

Well, I'm finally finished with the second story. And yes, I know there are people out there reading this besides Velgma. I doubt she alone is able to do the 900+ hits I have received for this story.

Anyways, I'm debating on whether to do the side stories, but I have an idea for the place where Quint and Mega Man ended up. It's one of my AU universes that I thought up (I was planning to write a fanfiction about this AU universe, but while I planned it, it never really got off the ground, and frankly, the idea pretty much almost died completely.

One more thing: the password guarding the Time Skimmer. I told you guys it was not random, and I'll reveal it now! And yes, Velgma, I know you were able to figure out the password.

Yup. Believe it or not, it's one of those ye olde alphabet puzzles.

Forwards (A01, B02, ..., Z26)  
W - 23  
I - 09  
L - 12  
Y - 25  
2-3-0-9-1-2-2-5

Backwards (A26, B25, ..., Z01)  
0-4-1-8-1-5-0-2

* * *

See you guys in the next book! 


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